New research has identified teacher working conditions as having a greater effect
on teacher turnover than most other factors, including student achievement and student characteristics.
Running Head: Federal Policy and the Teacher Labor Market Federal Policy and the Teacher Labor Market: Exploring the Effects of NCLB
on Teacher Turnover
So finds a Michigan State University education scholar — and former high school teacher — in her latest research
on teacher turnover, which costs the nation an estimated $ 2.2 billion a year.
According to a study
on teacher turnover conducted on charter and public school teachers in Los Angeles, it was determined that charter school teachers leave at a 33 % higher rate than teachers at a traditional public schools.
He is a founding editor of the quarterly journal Rethinking Schools, which has compiled a special online collection of 17 articles focused
on teacher turnover and retention in schools.
Just to confuse [sic] the issue, allow me to enter an edited (for space concerns) article from the Atlanta Journal Constitution re the «hard to fire teachers» mythology: «Finally, to add some context from Richard Ingersoll, a noted University of Pennsylvania expert
on teacher turnover: The teaching occupation suffers from chronic and relatively high annual turnover compared with many other occupations.
«Finally, to add some context from Richard Ingersoll, a noted University of Pennsylvania expert
on teacher turnover:
Last week, Chalkbeat Colorado reported
on teacher turnover across the state's school districts.
The Myth of Unions» Overprotection of Bad Teachers: Evidence from the District - Teacher Matched Panel Data
on Teacher Turnover
This is an issue of management,» says Ingersoll whose research focuses
on teacher turnover and retention.
The report, «The Myth of Unions» Overprotection of Bad Teachers: Evidence from the District - Teacher Matched Panel Data
on Teacher Turnover,» which is dated October 5, 2015 and barely surfaced online the following month, has gotten virtually no attention in media outlets despite its startlingly contrarian findings.
Before I get to the specific errors, you can read our full report here, and we've published more detailed methodologies in our reports
on teacher turnover rates and break - even points.
States assume that reaching the vesting point has no discernible impact
on teacher turnover; in Iowa, for example, projected turnover rates are actually higher among teachers just before the vesting point than immediately after.
They found the change had no effect
on teacher turnover rates.
Not exact matches
The
turnover of high - performing
teachers is a challenging problem but, in DCPS, we find that the exit of high performers generally has small and statistically insignificant effects
on student achievement.»
However, results from a new study show that
teacher turnover under IMPACT, the
teacher - evaluation system used in the District of Columbia Public Schools, improved student performance
on average.
It calls for
teachers to have to teach in disadvantaged schools if they want to obtain the headship qualification and schools must publish data
on training provision and
turnover rates for early - career
teachers in different schools.
That includes any effect of student poverty
on teacher quality; in a 2004 study, Eric Hanushek, John Kain, and I found that poverty contributes to
teacher turnover and to schools having a higher share of
teachers with little or no prior teaching experience.
This is a major source of loss for many young
teachers, since most
teacher pension systems have a vesting period of five years or longer and the vast majority of early - career
teacher turnover occurs in the first five years
on the job.
With a 60 percent staff -
turnover rate and a majority of new
teachers on an emergency credential, the experienced, expert
teacher my students deserved was not waiting in line for my job.
Most districts trying to reduce
teacher turnover and increase the number of well - qualified
teachers in their schools have focused
on improving hiring and recruitment practices.
IMPACT's effects also depend
on the direct impact of
teacher turnover and the quality of newly hired
teachers.
The literature
on teacher effectiveness and employee
turnover associated with benefits shows that average
teacher effectiveness will likely decline with alternative benefits.
In high - poverty schools, we estimate that the overall effect of all
teacher turnover on student achievement is 0.08 of a standard deviation in math and 0.05 of a standard deviation in reading.
Teacher turnover is often assumed to have a universally negative influence
on school quality, and replacing
teachers in schools with high rates of
turnover can place strong demands
on district recruitment efforts.
To determine the effect of
teacher turnover on student achievement under IMPACT, we examine the year - to - year changes in school - grade combinations with and without
teacher turnover.
We find that the overall effect of
teacher turnover in DCPS at worst had no adverse effect
on student achievement and, under reasonable assumptions, improved it.
A close look at the financial assumptions that undergird their plans shows that the states themselves don't believe these incentives are effective at retaining
teachers; in fact, they count
on high rates of
teacher turnover in order to balance the books.
So while it may be tempting to blame
teacher turnover on current education policies, demographics and rising retirement rates offer a more plausible explanation.
In our recent Education Next report, «Why Most
Teachers Get a Bad Deal on Pensions,» my colleague Kelly Robson and I analyzed state pension plan turnover assumptions to look at two key milestones, the point when teachers first qualify for a pension, and when they become eligible for normal ret
Teachers Get a Bad Deal
on Pensions,» my colleague Kelly Robson and I analyzed state pension plan
turnover assumptions to look at two key milestones, the point when
teachers first qualify for a pension, and when they become eligible for normal ret
teachers first qualify for a pension, and when they become eligible for normal retirement.
When Susan Moore Johnson began studying the experiences of new
teachers, she wasn't motivated by some mandate about highly qualified professionals or the latest data
on turnover.
When the National Council
on Teacher Quality looked at
turnover within Miami - Dade County Public Schools, they found significant disparities even within the same district.
In turn, the instability associated with high rates of
teacher turnover falls disproportionately
on poor students.
As with
teachers, traditional defined benefit plans create strong incentives for administrators nearing normal retirement to continue
on the job until their pension wealth peaks, and the
turnover rates from the principal survey confirm this trend.
Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of
Teachers and Lecturers, told Schools Week: «Schools are so desperate for teachers they are prepared to hire them on these short - term visas even though it means there will be rapid turnover of staff
Teachers and Lecturers, told Schools Week: «Schools are so desperate for
teachers they are prepared to hire them on these short - term visas even though it means there will be rapid turnover of staff
teachers they are prepared to hire them
on these short - term visas even though it means there will be rapid
turnover of staff.»
Because all principals participate in personnel decisions, we have focused
on the composition of
teacher turnover.
Although better principals may also attract and hire more - effective
teachers, the absence of reliable quality measures for new
teachers and the fact that many principals have little control over new hires lead us to focus specifically
on turnover.
Importantly, because high
teacher turnover can be associated with both improvement and decline in the quality of instruction, the amount of
turnover on its own provides little insight into the wisdom of a principal's personnel decisions.
Issues typically include: balancing systemic and individual needs; navigating competing demands
on teachers» time; finite financial resources;
teacher turnover; the availability of appropriate mentoring and support; even geography.
In our review of state
turnover assumptions, we found no state where
teachers time their departures based
on when they qualify for a minimum pension.
I believe
turnover in urban schools is so high because of the lack of targeted professional development to help
teachers be successful in that environment, the huge emphasis placed
on standardized testing, and the lack of shared leadership within most urban schools.
However, the strength of this preference depends
on two things: the actual difference in
turnover rates and the difference in effectiveness between an experienced and a novice
teacher.
Preliminary results from a two - year research engagement include: Newest
teachers are more likely to be assigned to the least prepared students There is significant variation in Delaware teachers» impact on student test scores Teachers» impact on student test scores increases most in the first few years of teaching A significant share of new teachers leave teaching in Delaware within four years High poverty schools in Delaware have higher rates of teacher tur
teachers are more likely to be assigned to the least prepared students There is significant variation in Delaware
teachers» impact on student test scores Teachers» impact on student test scores increases most in the first few years of teaching A significant share of new teachers leave teaching in Delaware within four years High poverty schools in Delaware have higher rates of teacher tur
teachers» impact
on student test scores
Teachers» impact on student test scores increases most in the first few years of teaching A significant share of new teachers leave teaching in Delaware within four years High poverty schools in Delaware have higher rates of teacher tur
Teachers» impact
on student test scores increases most in the first few years of teaching A significant share of new
teachers leave teaching in Delaware within four years High poverty schools in Delaware have higher rates of teacher tur
teachers leave teaching in Delaware within four years High poverty schools in Delaware have higher rates of
teacher turnover...
«Because these investments can indirectly affect student progress through critical channels such as
teacher working conditions, we'll also evaluate the significance of facility spending
on reducing instructor
turnover,» McFarlin said.
For example, if
teachers are hired without having been fully prepared, the much higher
turnover rates that result are costly in terms of both dollars spent
on the replacement process and decreases in student achievement in high -
turnover schools.
Turnover for beginners — who leave at much higher rates than other
teachers — is influenced by how well novices are prepared prior to entry and how well they are mentored in their first years
on the job.
Beyond information
on academic achievement, states should collect and make publicly available information
on graduation rates, student
turnover,
teacher turnover,
teacher quality, school size, program offerings, and school safety.
But in a new article for Education Next, Chad Aldeman and Kelly Robson of Bellwether Education Partners find that despite the widely held belief that pensions entice
teachers to stay
on the job, states base the financial health of their pension plans
on the opposite assumption: they rely
on high rates of
teacher turnover in order to balance the books.
Federal data from the National Center
on Education Statistics (NCES) offers a potentially surprising revelation: Private school
teachers have higher
turnover rates than their public school counterparts, and it's not particularly close.
There are, for example, no statistics
on the percentage of ELL students in the schools, no numbers
on the privately raised funds the schools put to use, and only cursory gestures, in Kenny's book, to the controversy over students counseled out of or removed from these charter - school classrooms and to their
teacher turnover rate.